Slight of Eye
by Nate Grey
Summary: A genuine attempt to explain how Uchiha Sasuke, one of Konoha's greatest traitors, could possibly become Hokage, without the entire village being under Sharingan hypnosis. Since Kishimoto hasn't bothered yet.


Notes: What follows is two things.

1) A genuine attempt to explain how Sasuke, one of Konoha's greatest traitors, could actually become Hokage following the Fourth Shinobi World War. Without the entire village being under Sharingan hypnosis. Since apparently Kishimoto isn't about to explain this feat any time soon.

2) Yes, another rage-fic. To be clear, I don't mean that the story is full of hate, merely that it was inspired by an incident in the manga that awoke a great deal of anger in me. As an example, the first such rage-fic was inspired by Naruto choosing to get beat down like a dog in the street in order to "protect" Sasuke, as well as bowing to the Raikage in such a way that implied Sasuke's life was more important than anyone else's. And no, it's not a coincidence that Sasuke is always tied into my rage-fics. Because he's _obviously_ the main character and the series is clearly named for him.

To expand on this: I was totally appalled that Sasuke's Instant Forgiveness no Jutsu overwhelmed not only the Shinobi Alliance, but the snake summons as well. Basically, I don't care for the way Sasuke is magically a good guy again, without suffering any considerable negative consequences first (Itachi re-dying doesn't count, seeing as Sasuke killed him the first time and arguably enjoyed it. More importantly, Konoha has not yet had a chance to punish Sasuke for his crimes against it). I especially don't like the idea that someone might take Sasuke's stated desire to become Hokage seriously, especially since few have done that when Naruto has been saying it seriously for years. That would be one more thing that Sasuke is just handed, that also happens to elude Naruto despite his deserving and working tirelessly for it, such as credit for nearly every big name he defeated while Sasuke was still his teammate, and a little thing called Sakura's love. And if things like that are going to keep happening, there's really no point at all in the series being named for Naruto.

* * *

**Slight of Eye**

**Another Naruto Rage-Fic by**

**Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)**

* * *

Tsunade glared at the person sitting calmly on the other side of her desk. "We owe you nothing but death. That is the punishment for betraying this village."

Uchiha Sasuke was not at all concerned with her attitude. "True," he agreed.

"And yet you don't seem worried. Are you so ready to die?"

"I don't plan on dying anytime soon. I do plan on getting what is owed. If not to me, then certainly to my clan. I'd like to start with my brother."

Tsunade sighed. "You understand, of course, that I cannot reveal the truth surrounding Itachi's final mission."

"You can. You won't. There is a difference," Sasuke pointed out. "But that is not what I want or expect. Exposing the truth would only damage the village's reputation needlessly."

"And you suddenly care about the village?"

"I suddenly realize that you people have taken advantage of my clan over and over again, and as the last living Uchiha, I intended to collect on that debt. You owe my brother for his services and sacrifice."

Tsunade nodded, willing to concede that point. But she did not care at all for the confident, relaxed way that Sasuke was behaving. Almost as if he were unaware that he was an international criminal, and one of the most wanted men alive. "Spit it out, Uchiha. What do you want?"

"I want Itachi's ANBU back pay, from the moment he killed my clan, up until the day he died. We both know he was on duty that whole time."

"Fine," Tsunade agreed at once. "What else?"

"Are you aware what Danzō was carrying when I killed him?"

"I was never very big on guessing games."

"Over ten Sharingan embedded in his body. That means that at least six of the Uchiha that died for this village were harvested for parts by him. That is unacceptable, and I demand payment. Six lives for six lives. Or wives, I should say."

Tsunade snorted. "You want six women from the village?"

"I want six kunoichi from the village," Sasuke corrected. "If I wanted civilians, I wouldn't bother asking the Hokage for them. I'd just pick from the least brainless fan girls."

"And if your demands are not met?"

Sasuke smirked. "They will be. Either you can grant them to me, or I can find less obvious ways to get them. I thought I'd give you the chance to do this up front, so you can't accuse me of any wrongdoing later on. I'm making my intentions known. And just so we're clear, you owe me your life as well. It was my team who saved you."

"As far as I'm concerned, any debt between us was settled when I allowed you to walk back into this village under your own power."

"Did you forget that I came here while you were at war? If anything, you also owe me for not destroying the village then."

Tsunade shook her head. "You're used to getting your way around here, I know. But all of that went out of the window when you turned your back on this village, attacked and attempted to kill my ninja, allied yourself twice with our known enemies, and killed Danzō. You want me to admit that we couldn't have beaten Obito and Madara without you? Fine, it's true. But that in no way erases your crimes against this village, especially since you knowingly helped them get as far as they did. The only reason I'm giving you anything is because of Itachi's faithful service. And I have to say, I don't think blackmailing the village he loved more than his own clan is a decent way of honoring his memory."

"And that's your problem, Tsunade: you think I'm him. I'm not. Had I been told to chose between my clan and my village, I would have chosen my clan. I would rather kill everyone else in the village than one person in my family. I'm not interested in honoring Itachi's memory your way. I do it my way: by surviving and becoming stronger, as he wanted me to. You need to remember that I am an avenger. This isn't blackmail, it's getting my vengeance. But if you like, I can go right back to trying to destroy this village."

"Well, unfortunately for you, I'm not Orochimaru. I'm not just going to force six of my kunoichi to marry you. But if you can find that many that want to marry you and are willing to share you, I won't fight you on it. But I have two conditions."

"Sakura can't be one of them," Sasuke guessed, barely resisting the urge to laugh. From Tsunade's mulish expression, he knew he was right.

"And neither can Hinata."

Now Sasuke did laugh. "Reserved for someone else, I see."

"That's none of your concern," Tsunade snapped.

"Fine. But simply telling Sakura that won't be enough. You should let me break the news to her in my own way. I promise you that she'll want nothing to do with me."

"Agreed," Tsunade muttered reluctantly. "And there's one more thing I'll need from you. I agree to these terms, and you return to Team 7. I doubt anyone else could put up with you, and I don't trust anyone else to watch you as they would. And so we're clear? The only reason I made no effort to hunt you down and kill you was at Naruto's request. Danzō overruled that, and you just made it more necessary by attacking the Kage Summit. So if I hear that you even breathed wrong, I will kill you. No punishment, no prison, just death."

"Such a warm welcome home," Sasuke murmured.

"If you really consider this village home, then it's time you finally started acting like it."

* * *

The minute Naruto heard that Sakura had accepted a lunch invite from Sasuke, he ran all the way to Sasuke's new apartment and kicked in the door. Along the way, he had envisioned his worst nightmare: finding Sasuke and Sakura in bed together. Instead, he found them sitting at the kitchen table, staring at him.

"You're going to pay for that," Sasuke finally said after a moment, calmly returning to drinking his tea. "I'll just take it out of your pay once I'm Hokage."

This was probably the only thing about Sasuke's return that had enfuriated Naruto more than any supposed claim on Sakura: that Sasuke apparently wanted Naruto's dream, as well as his dream girl. Tsunade had made it very clear to everyone that she had no intention of naming Sasuke the next Hokage. Still, it was also very clear that despite the popularity Naruto had gained before and in the war, there were still some people in power that would oppose him being named the next Hokage. This left Tsunade in an awkward position: Naruto had the popular vote, but not the power vote, while Sasuke had lost much of his popular vote, yet somehow still had more of the power vote than Naruto. Apparently, the people in power still loved their last Uchiha.

Naruto's training under Jiraiya had included some lectures on politics, so Naruto knew that being Hokage was not just about being named so, or being strong enough for the job. It was also about having the entire village's support. A Hokage with no one willing to obey was just a figurehead. Beyond that, he recognized that he still wasn't ready to become Hokage just yet. There were more battles to be fought, more adventures to be had, and more jutsu to learn. None of that could be accomplished from behind a desk. But even so, Naruto was equally convinced that Sasuke was also not ready, and beyond that, that he hadn't earned the right. Sasuke had been concerned with only himself for so long that he had no idea how to care for others, let alone an entire village he had left behind. Naruto thought he would be a terrible Hokage, and felt sure that Sasuke only wanted the job as a way of continuing their rivalry. Worse, he strongly suspected that Sasuke only wanted Sakura for the same reason, and that she would be crushed the moment she realized this.

But before Naruto could confront Sasuke about any of this, something truly odd happened.

Sakura put her teacup down, thanked Sasuke for lunch, and then stood up. Almost like she intended to leave, and without being asked. The oddity continued when Sakura walked up to Naruto, gave him a hesitant smile, and asked, "Naruto, could we talk for a minute?"

Naruto assumed she wanted to speak to Sasuke in private, and though he hated it, he knew refusing would only cause a scene that would likely involve him getting hit a lot. So he turned to leave, only to find Sakura's hand on his arm.

"No, Naruto. I want to talk to you," she explained. "It's about us. The two of us, I mean."

Naruto grimaced, fully expecting the "I'm still in love with Sasuke, so sucks to be you" speech he suspected Sakura had been working on since the day that Sasuke had first turned his back on them.

"I'm sorry I haven't appreciated you the way I should have. You've been there for me through everything, and I never even thanked you. And now that Sasuke is back, things can go back to the way they were. But I want them to be better than they were. So I was wondering if maybe we could start over, and maybe we could do that with a dinner date tonight, just you and me."

Naruto gaped at her, having trouble processing what he'd just heard. He risked a glance at Sasuke, who was still sipping his tea and pointedly not looking at either of them. Sakura was still staring at Naruto hopefully, and not trusting his voice to work, he made do with a slight nod.

Sakura's face lit up in an entirely unexpected way, and she gave Naruto a big hug. "Thank you, Naruto! I promise you won't regret this."

Feeling the warmth of her body against his, and smelling the sweet scent of her shampoo, Naruto pushed his suspicions aside, for the moment.

* * *

The many snakes of Ryūchi Cave did not hold meetings often, but when they did, those meetings were of the greatest importance. The current one was no different.

"Any new business to discuss?" the snake elder presiding over the meeting asked.

"I nominate Lord Sasuke to be our primary and preferred summoner," the snake named Aoda announced.

"Seconded," another snake said immediately.

"Uh, hold on. Uchiha _Sasuke_?" a young, brown snake asked. "The same guy who forced Boss Manda to sacrifice himself? Manda, the most powerful boss we had in generations? _T__hat_ Uchiha Sasuke?"

"Yes, that one," Aoda replied, clearly annoyed at being questioned.

"Doesn't that strike anyone as a little backwards? We're praising and rewarding the summoner who cost us our boss snake and ruined our reputation as the most feared summons? Shouldn't we, I don't know, kill him? At the very least, he should lose the right to summon us. I mean, he even has an additional contract with the hawks. We never used to allow our summoners to hold other contracts at the same time."

"All true," the elder snake agreed. "However, we are making an exception in Lord Sasuke's case."

"Uh... may I ask why?" the brown snake murmured.

"Isn't it obvious?" The elder snake nodded to himself, his eyes taking on a reddish glow. "Lord Sasuke is awesome."

"All glory to Lord Sasuke," Aoda and the surrounding snakes all droned as one, their eyes also glowing red.

The brown snake stared at them in growing concern and fear. "Uh... well, I think I'll just go to the little snake's room real quick..."

"No," the elder snake disagreed. "I think you should stay here while we educate you on just how awesome Lord Sasuke truly is. You seem to be... regretfully ill-informed."

At once, several snakes surrounded the brown snake, and he then recognized that they all had a reddish glow in their eyes, one that he recognized as being that of the Sharingan.

* * *

Naruto's date with Sakura had been spectacular, and she had promised they would go out again tomorrow night. Somewhat less spectacular was that she'd suggested double-dating with Sasuke and Ino in the near future, but Naruto figured that if he knew Ino like he thought he did, she wouldn't be letting Sasuke out of her sight long enough for him to do anything with Sakura.

The only real wrinkle in the night was when Naruto returned to his apartment to find Sasuke sitting on the couch.

"I trust the date went well?" Sasuke asked, seeming far too sure of that.

"What do you care?" Naruto asked guardedly.

"I do care," Sasuke replied. "I want you and Sakura to be happy together. And I certainly don't want her chasing after me anymore. It's good that she's moved on."

Naruto relaxed slightly. In his experience, Sasuke did not really bother to lie. He could be a jerk, but Naruto could not recall a time when Sasuke had looked him in the eye and been less than truthful. Sasuke had always found other ways to mask his intentions. Like not mentioning them at all.

"I think we should talk about the future, Naruto. Especially about our becoming Hokage."

Naruto's brain slammed to a halt. "What?!"

Sasuke smiled at him. "Naruto, you've done great things for this village, and you will be Hokage one day. But that day is no time soon, and Tsunade desperately needs a successor. That's where I come in. I'll keep the seat warm for you. And when the village is ready for it, I will name you my successor. This is how the line of Hokage has always worked. The Shodai and Nidaime were brothers. The Sandaime was their student, and his student was the Yondaime's sensei."

"And you really think that would work?" Naruto said doubtfully.

"I promise you it will. I swear it on Itachi's grave."

Naruto strongly disliked that phrasing. "Okay, I can tell you're serious."

"Yes. But there are some things you will need to do. You need to trust, for example, that when I send you on S-rank missions, I'm doing it to build up your fame, and not in a misguided attempt to kill you. You will also need to revive your mother's clan. That means you will stop ignoring Hinata and actually marry her."

"Marry Hinata!" Naruto cried indignantly. "What about Sakura-chan?!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Don't forget the Clan Restoration Act, Naruto. You can marry them both. You'll pretty much have to, in fact, in order to revive the clan. There's only one other Uzumaki in the village, and I feel certain she'll want to marry me. But our kid will be an Uchiha, not an Uzumaki, so that wouldn't help you at all."

"But... I don't think Sakura-chan and Hinata would be okay with sharing me," Naruto pointed out.

Sasuke smiled at him. "You might be surprised."

* * *

Naruto was indeed surprised, and married to both Sakura and Hinata less than two months later. He was still shocked at how quickly both had agreed to marry him, and more shocked that Sakura had agreed to let Hinata be the first wife. Sasuke had said that would also be important to the village, and Naruto could see how marrying someone from a well-known clan in the village would help his reputation.

True to his word, Sasuke had married Ino, and then Karin, who Naruto was shocked to discover was the Uzumaki that Sasuke had been telling him about. Naruto had immediately demanded a full pardon for her, given that she had saved Tsunade's life, and that she be recognized as having been a member of his clan before her marriage to Sasuke. Tsunade had very reluctantly agreed, on the condition that Karin made a genuine attempt to at least act like an Uzumaki. So she was required by law to have lunch with Naruto once a week. Naruto was strangely fascinated by Karin's life, and though she was not accustomed to all the attention, Karin was glad that Naruto was apparently so happy about being related to her, and that as Uzumaki clan leader he had not contested her marrying Sasuke.

Naruto had genuinely been satisfied with two girls who so obviously cared for him, and had made no further plans to marry. Sasuke, however, had soon selected additional wives from the Inuzuka, Akimichi, and Nara clans. He encouraged Naruto to do that same, but Naruto could never really grasp the idea of marrying someone he had only known for a short time and didn't care deeply for. Although he amended his perspective rather quickly, when both Tenten and Ayame admitted they were interested in marrying him. Naruto was both too flattered and stunned to refuse, and yet again, neither Sakura nor Hinata offered a word of protest. In fact, Hinata was quite exited about being "related" to Tenten, and Sakura secretly wanted to learn all she could about cooking from Ayame. Naruto was just glad that they all seemed to like each other, because he had been worried about them not getting along.

With four happy wives, Naruto had been sure he was done with collecting them. He turned down several offers, many from girls he might have seen all of two times in the village. Sasuke had eventually stopped bugging him about it, though Naruto felt that was partially due to having no time for it, with six wives of his own and, eventually, a village to run. Naruto could not deny that Sasuke becoming Hokage left a bitter taste in his mouth. But true to his word, Sasuke constantly kept Naruto in the public's eye, and if he was not a household name before, than he certainly was soon enough. And while Naruto received plenty of high-ranking missions, Sasuke was even considerate enough to limit them whenever one of Naruto's wives was pregnant. Naruto had had the brilliant idea of all of them being pregnant at the same time, the first time around. Sasuke had merely shaken his head and made sure Naruto recieved S-rank pay just for surviving that in one piece (although several Naruto clones were bludgeoned to death during Sakura's pregnancies).

* * *

Sasuke's reign as Hokage was marked by a subtle but still very noticeable change in politics. Although the clans themselves were left largely untouched, as was their right, Sasuke felt that some clan heads and elders thought themselves a bit too important, especially in comparison to the Hokage, the acknowledged leader of the village. To make it perfectly clear that no one person was the Hokage's equal, Sasuke made it forbidden to publicly refer to any other authority figure in the village as "Lord". Predictably, the Hyūga clan was quite upset about this. Sasuke's counter proposal was that every clan head should then be referred to publicly as "Lord" - even by other clan heads. Not surprisingly, the Hyūga did not like the idea of having to pay such respect to anyone outside the clan, except the Hokage - which had been Sasuke's point all along. In any case, the Hyūga were in the minority, as few other clan heads even demanded such treatment anymore.

Another questionable measure was Sasuke's policy of inter-clan relations. While he could not force the clans to mix, he did provide additional benefits to those that did. For example, since Hinata was born a Hyūga but married into the Uzumaki, Sasuke granted her a secondary village council seat, separate from both clans. As he explained it, Hinata was in a unique position to speak on the behalf of both, yet had an entirely different perspective from a person who had only lived in one clan. He extended this power to anyone who had formal ties to two clans, which resulted in the creation of many more secondary council seats. The only limitation was that if more than one person had ties to the same two clans, they had to decide among themselves who would hold the seat. Although the Hyūga resisted for as long as they could, Sasuke was entirely too smug when Sarutobi Konohamaru was bullied into marrying both Hyūga Hanabi and Moegi, granting each girl a seat in the process. This made it much more difficult for any measure to pass with a majority vote, but it also made it virtually impossible for any person or group to hold sway over the entire council, no matter how popular they were.

Naruto was of two minds about the changes. On one hand, Sasuke had effectively destroyed the "noble clan" viewpoint that had simultaneously rewarded Sasuke and plagued Naruto in their youth. At the same time, Sasuke had made it much harder for anyone to gain majority favor in the village council - except, perhaps, someone who had saved the entire village, which fortunately Naruto had more than once. Just as important, many of the new council members were younger ninja who had either grown up with or just behind Naruto, and had a far more realistic and favorable opinion of him than their older counterparts. As it was, every surviving member of the Rookie Nine except Sakura had a council seat, and between Naruto and Hinata, Sakura's opinions typically found their way into the meetings in some form.

* * *

About a week before Naruto's 21st birthday, he returned home from a mission to find the Uzumaki compound in a state of obvious urgency. Sasuke had restored and sectioned off portions of the once unused Uchiha compound for their use, which essentially made them neighbors. However, despite the powerful friends that Naruto had made during his shinobi career, it was still more common for important visitors to be seen in the Uchiha compound. And even when the Uzumaki did have guests, they usually made a point to notify Naruto in advance, to ensure that he would actually be in the village at the time.

Hinata greeted Naruto at the door with her usual enthusiastic hug and kiss, but instead of asking how the mission had gone, she immediately dragged him to a bathroom. More than a little confused already, Naruto was even more surprised (but not unpleasantly so) to find Sakura already there, in the process of undressing herself. Naruto eagerly threw off his own clothes, thinking his two wives had prepared a very nice welcome home gift for him, but when he reached for Sakura, she slapped his hands away with a frown.

"There's no time for that, Naruto!" she snapped, clearly on edge. "Didn't Hinata tell you what's going on?!"

Naruto turned to Hinata, only to find her shedding clothes just as quickly. "No, but I think I like it," he replied uncertainly.

Hinata spared him a smile. "We must hurry, Naruto. There's an important guest waiting to see you, so we must get you cleaned up and dressed as quickly as possible."

Before Naruto could ask, he was dragged into a very thorough, pleasing, but unfortunately quick bath with them. They only made a half-hearted effort to dry him off afterward, and began stuffing him into some of his best clothing. When Naruto complained about this, Sakura grimaced and said, "Maybe she'll think it's sweat and that you're nervous. She'll love that."

Minutes later, Hinata and Sakura were dressed as well, and each took one of Naruto's arms and dragged him to a sitting room. Not surprisingly, it was already occupied. Surprisingly, the occupants were Sasuke, Ino (who even now rarely ever left his side, and at least ensured the equally jealous Karin was with him if Ino could not be), Tenten, and a woman who Naruto did not immediately recognize. The stranger was cooing over baby Haku, Hinata's youngest son, and did not even notice that Naruto had joined them until Sakura practically threw him into the seat beside her. Then the somewhat older, but still very attractive woman turned to him, and Naruto gaped at her, both because he now knew who she was, but had never seen her look the way she currently did. Her hair was now much shorter, and had been dyed an almost alarming shade of bright red. If Naruto had not known better, he would have sworn that she could have easily been an Uzumaki. He was the only one in the room that failed to realize this was no coincidence.

"You seem surprised to see me, Naruto-kun," the woman giggled.

"I didn't know you were coming, Mizuka-" Naruto began to say, but he then saw that everyone behind the woman was frantically motioning that he should not address her as such.

The woman sighed, looking slightly depressed. "Ah, you haven't heard. I have retired from my former position and am no longer Godaime Mizukage. It wasn't all my choice, you see. Some of the women in my village were greatly concerned that I still hadn't gotten married, and that their husbands were spending a great deal of time around me."

"I'm, um, sorry to hear that, Mei-san," Naruto offered. "From what I know of you, you have always been a woman worthy of your village's trust and respect."

"You're so sweet to say that," Mei murmured fondly, patting his cheek. "Anyway, I thought I would travel around for a bit, and Tsunade invited me to come and have a few drinks with her. We started talking, and she showed me pictures of all those darling children of yours. I have to admit, I was jealous."

"Oh," Naruto said, finally guessing at the reason for Mei's visit. "Don't worry, Mei-san. I'm sure a beautiful woman like you will find yourself a good man to marry and have kids with sooner than you think."

She grinned at him. "Perhaps sooner than _you_ think, Naruto-kun."

He stared at her blankly. "Huh?"

"Naruto-baka," Ino hissed, "Tsunade told her about the Clan Restoration Act!"

"I explained to Mei-san that I was not taking on any other wives," Sasuke added, giving Naruto a meaningful look, "but that you only had four."

"What do you mean, _only_ four-" Naruto snapped, under the impression that Sasuke was either underestimating or openly insulting his wives.

Sakura, seeking to avoid a fight, quickly dumbed down the point that everyone was dancing around. "Naruto, Mei-san would like to be your fifth wife."

Naruto blinked slowly. "I... but... wow, really? Why, though?" He was more surprised than alarmed, for some reason.

"Because each of your wives has at least three kids, and she'd really like that many herself, to start with. Just as important, you have certain attributes that she would prefer in a husband."

Naruto considered this for a moment. "But I wouldn't feel right about this unless-"

"All your wives are in agreement, Naruto," Hinata added, knowing that Naruto would never take a wife without the consent of all the others. "We would be happy to welcome Mei-san into our family."

"Okay, but I get the feeling that I'm missing something. There seems to be a lot of pressure behind this." Naruto glared at Sasuke suspiciously. "And why is Sasuke here, anyway? What does he have to do with any of this?"

"Mei-san still holds a great deal of influence back in her village," Sasuke explained, "and if she were to establish a more solid connection with Konoha, that would increase the likelihood of improved trade relations with them. So I would consider it a personal favor if you did everything in your power to make that happen, Naruto."

Naruto frowned. "I think I need a minute alone with Sasuke. Please excuse us, Mei-san." He stood up and headed for the door, with Sasuke following a moment later. Once they were out of earshot, Naruto spun around and glared at Sasuke. "So let me see if I have this right, teme. You want me to marry and have kids with this super hot former Mizukage for the sake of the village?!"

"Yes," Sasuke replied simply, clearly amused.

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's shoulders, pulled him close, and whispered in his ear, "Best. Hokage. _Ever_!"

* * *

Sasuke had been Hokage for just over ten years before he finally named Naruto his successor. It was another year before Naruto officially came to power, during which Sasuke was curiously silent about his own plans after he stepped down. Naruto, at least, assumed Sasuke was going to stick around. It would be a pretty big task to move an entire clan anywhere. Aside from that, Naruto did not figure that Sasuke would want to give up the power and influence that the restored Uchiha clan had finally gotten back.

But for the second time in Konoha's history, the Uchiha clan vanished overnight. Their compound was abandoned, and anything of value had been taken as well. A small comfort was that there were no bodies left behind, so if nothing else, there had not been another massacre. Not yet, at least. But Sasuke had left Naruto a rather ominous note that simply stated, "You made yourself Hokage. I will make you a legend."

As disturbing as the clan's departure was, Naruto quickly found that he had bigger problems. It became clear that all of his wives, with the exception of Mei, had been under some form of hypnosis, which had compelled them to marry Naruto in the first place. In Hinata's case, at least, that had always been her intention, although she admitted it likely would have taken her much longer to find the courage needed to approach Naruto, so she probably would not have been his first wife. But she had every intention of staying married to him, no matter what. Ayame felt the same way, and to a lesser extent, so did Tenten. However, Tenten admitted that she had never really considered dating Naruto before, although her time spent as his wife had gradually caused her to fall in love with him.

Sakura was a different matter. She maintained that Sasuke had been responsible for the genjutsu, and that in casting it, he had poisoned her feelings for Naruto, whatever they had been before (and she claimed she could no longer be sure what they had been, as it was unclear exactly when Sasuke had begun influencing her and the others). Sakura insisted that she could not rest until Sasuke was brought to justice for his crime, and swore she would only truly be

Naruto's wife when this had been carried out. She had packed up her three children and moved out of the Uzumaki compound mere days after the Uchiha desertion. Much as Naruto loved her, he felt strangely relieved by this, and wondered for the first time if he himself had been compelled by Sasuke to marry Sakura. Furthermore, Sakura's departure in the midst of the crisis convinced Naruto that even if he did capture Sasuke again, Sakura would not keep her promise to return, and he was no longer even sure if he wanted her to.

* * *

Sakura had told herself that she was completely over Sasuke. For good, this time. She honestly believed it, too.

Pursuing Sasuke for any reason had caused her nothing but heartache and depression over the years, and she was tired of being of tired. If she had ever truly loved him, it had long since faded into frustration and outright anger. True, she had more than once freely offered herself to him, to use in virtually any way he pleased, and each time he had dismissed her without hesitation. Why, then, was it the one time he had decided to use her, that she felt betrayed?

It was simply because he had done so without her permission or knowledge, and because he had corrupted something pure and good that Sakura had taken years to acknowledge and accept: Naruto's love. The worst part was that she had never truly accepted Naruto's feelings, as she'd done so under Sasuke's influence. She could not even be sure that Naruto himself hadn't been acting on Sasuke's orders. He had tainted their lives all over again, without mercy or remorse, and Sakura could genuinely state that she hated him for it, and would never forgive him.

Leaving Naruto had not really been a choice. Sakura could not bear to face him and admit, once more, that Sasuke had control over both of their lives, although she felt certain that it had not been her fault this time. Furthermore, she could not bear to look at Hinata and know that her love for Naruto was virtually unscathed despite everything, while Sakura's own was irreparably damaged. She realized that her love for Naruto had never been comparable to Hinata's, and now it never could be.

Naruto had been incredibly understanding, much to Sakura's frustration. He had done everything short of establishing an independent Haruno clan in Konoha, despite the fact that Sakura now refused to call herself his wife in any way, shape, or form. All things considered, that, combined with Naruto's generosity, only made her seem completely ungrateful to the village at large. There was certainly no other woman who had shared the Hokage's bed, bore his children, and yet refused the honor of acknowledging him as her husband. None of them could hope to understand Sakura's position, and most had no desire to. So she lived in a house purchased by Naruto, with her children who all looked so much like Naruto, eating food that Naruto had provided, and trying, with no amount of success at all, not to think of Naruto. All the while, Sakura steadily became more resentful toward everyone but her children, and yet there were times she even found herself hating them for their looks, if only momentarily.

Sakura was not sure how much more torture she could take, but her rescue came from a truly unexpected source. One day she returned home to find an unfamiliar woman and three boys in her kitchen, all with black hair, and drinking their way through her tea. "Who are you?" Sakura demanded at once, her dread growing as she tried and failed to sense the familiar chakra signatures of her sons. That could mean nothing good.

"That's no way to greet an old friend, Sakura," the woman replied, giving her a strangely familiar smile.

"You're not my friend! I've never seen you before."

"Not with this face, but I could hardly just walk into the village with my actual one."

"...Ino?" Sakura whispered uncertainly, and the woman smiled wider.

"Very good, Sakura. You can't really see through the genjutsu even now, but you never forget your best friend. Believe me, I know."

"What are you doing back here?" Sakura asked. "No, where did you go?! And where are my boys?!"

"The answer to all three is the same place you're going," Ino replied.

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "I'm not going anywhere with you, especially if Sasuke's there!"

"It's not like you have a choice here, Sakura," Ino pointed out. "You can come along willingly, I can take over your body myself, or I can arrange something far worse."

"Then do your worst, because you can't possibly wreck my life any more than you already have!"

"I'm sorry, then," Ino murmured, and truly looked it. "I had hoped you would cooperate, if it was me asking. But I was afraid you might react this way. That's why I brought my boys. Because there are people who can resist the Sharingan or a Yamanaka, but I have never seen anyone able to resist both at once."

Sakura immediately tried to turn away and avoid their eyes, but it was useless: one or possibly all three of the boys had already seized control of her body while Ino was talking.

"You won't be escaping with that other you, either," Ino told her. "I've taught them exactly how to keep her quiet. But don't worry, Sakura. We're not going to hurt you, and Sasuke doesn't want you for the reason you're probably dreading." She smirked. "If anything, we respect your marriage to Naruto more than you do."

"It was never real!" Sakura screamed at her. "Sasuke made me-!"

"There's a difference between greasing the wheels and overturning the cart, you know," Ino interrupted, rolling her eyes. "Maybe you wouldn't have married Naruto, but the love was already there to build on."

"I can never be sure of that! You've just proven I can't trust you!"

"Get over yourself. It's not like he made you marry Kiba. He only made you do what you were either too stubborn or stupid to do yourself, but really wanted to all along. Believe it or not, Sasuke did all of this for you and Naruto. Well, more Naruto than you, but he knew Naruto would take care of you. It's not like he could ever do anything else. You really should go back to him when this is over, Sakura. He's going to need a good healer, if nothing else."

* * *

"I could kill you both, you know," Naruto said softly, drumming his fingers on the desk. "No one would bother to stop me."

"I know that," Karin replied stiffly. Without meaning to, she squeezed the hand of the small boy at her side to the point of pain. She stopped upon hearing him whimper, then murmured a soft apology and briefly stroked his head. The boy quieted and leaned against her, his eyes drifting shut.

Naruto turned his gaze to the boy, and wondered what Sasuke was playing at. Kidnapping Sakura and her children was bad enough. But then Sasuke had apparently ordered Karin and Ino's third son Inoichi (named for his late grandfather) to allow themselves to be captured. More importantly, they had been captured within Konoha. Which meant that they had somehow obtained the password that allowed them into the village's invisible barrier. Naruto had changed the password immediately after Sasuke's departure.

Most worrying of all, Sakura had not known the password. She had refused to be told, in case Sasuke used her again, and had resigned herself to staying within the village for some time.

Sasuke hadn't gotten the password from her, in other words. Naruto did not like to think that one of his wives might still be under Sasuke's spell. But there was no real way to be sure, short of just asking Sasuke. Naruto didn't think Sasuke would lie if asked directly, but at the same time, Naruto wasn't sure he even wanted to know the answer.

"Tell me again," Naruto demanded abruptly.

Karin nodded. "Sasuke wants to meet you in the Valley of the End. He wants an exchange. Us for Sakura and her children."

"Does he want to fight me?"

"You would know that better than I would, Naruto."

Naruto cursed, ignoring the surprised look that Inoichi shot him. "And if I don't show up?"

"You know the hostage exchange is just an excuse for the fight. I imagine he'll keep taking your children until you do fight."

"Taking them, or ordering my wives to hands them over?"

Karin shrugged. "All I know for sure is that he didn't use hypnosis on me."

Naruto glared at her. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because he didn't need to. I would do anything he asked me to. I love him."

"What about Ino? She was fine with her son being used as a hostage?"

"She believed you wouldn't hurt him, despite everything. And we agreed giving you someone that witnessed Sakura's kidnapping would be best. We wanted you to be certain that she was taken against her will. She didn't betray you."

Naruto snorted. "Why should I believe you? You betrayed me. You all did!"

"You can kill me," Karin offered. "But it would only make you feel dirty and inadequate. And it wouldn't impact the situation at all. Sasuke wants to fight. He'll keep pushing you. I know you are an honorable man, Naruto. Even if I were not here, even if you no longer love Sakura, you will still try to save her. It's who you are. You're a hero."

"Why does Sasuke want to fight me? What's the point?"

"Sasuke has accepted his role in history. He is the Uchiha, you are the Senju. Your story can only end one way. There's no point in denying it. You must fight him."

"And you're okay with him doing this? What if he dies? What then?"

"I believe in Sasuke," Karin said simply, and would say no more on the matter.

Naruto glared at her. "And you don't feel even a shred of loyalty to me at all?" He was genuinely surprised to see Karin wince.

"I wish it could be another way," Karin admitted. "We share the same blood, however distantly. But in truth, had no one told us, how likely is it that we would be on good terms with each other?"

"Pretty good, I think," Naruto replied. "Because in my eyes, you're just another girl that Sasuke used to get what he wanted. I would have felt sorry for you."

"It's no good trying to make me feel guilty. It won't change anything. I chose Sasuke."

Something in the way she said it made Naruto realize what he had to do. He would hate himself for it, but it could work. It had certainly worked before. The only problem was that it had also created the monster that Sasuke still obviously was.

"What if I could guarantee the safety of you and your children?" he heard himself ask. "The same for the other wives, too."

"Were we targets before?" Karin asked with narrowed eyes.

"Depends on who you asked. But I can promise you, anyone who stands with Sasuke at the Valley is likely to die. If not from the fight itself, then probably due to chakra burns and/or poisioning, assuming the ground stays intact, which it didn't the last time. And we were kids then, mind you. But I'm talking long-term. You help me, and I'll see to it that you're all safe."

"What do you want in return?" Karin asked warily.

"Isn't it obvious? I want you to betray Sasuke. Come back to my clan. I really don't want to have to kill you, Karin. Do this and I won't have to. I'll tell everyone that you were a double agent. That it was only because of you that I was able to bring Sasuke down."

"Why should I trust you?"

Naruto smiled. "How can you not? I'm the good guy in this. I don't want to kill anyone if at all possible. Sasuke is the one forcing the fight, not me. If you could swear to me right now that you'd never go back to Sasuke or betray Konoha, and make me believe it, no one would ever touch you as long as I'm Hokage."

"Which might not be long, if Sasuke kills you," Karin pointed out.

"If you or Sasuke truly believed that, you and Inoichi wouldn't be here, Karin. You would have just sent me a scroll and waited with Sasuke and the others. You're here because Sasuke wants to be the bad guy. Which also means losing. Even if he kills me, he won't win. Because I'll manage to take him down as well, somehow. There haven't been any evil Hokages for a reason, and Sasuke knows it. So you take some time and think about it: Uzumaki or Uchiha?"

"I won't be your Itachi," Karin warned as Naruto rose to leave the room.

"Of course not. I expect you to live a long, full life here in the village, Karin. But only you can decide that, and either way, I've got a fight to prepare for."

**The End.**

* * *

Endnotes:

Yes, I'm ending it there. Told you it was a rage-fic. So, go on: rage. Again, not seeking popularity. But I honestly wonder if anyone else took issue this topic. Since it's not quite as awful as the Naruto beatdown of last time, but still I expected some outcry, if only because of the Manda thing.

* * *

Final Rant:

If somebody had told me that Sasuke could walk right back into the main storyline as a good guy without so much as an apology, I'd have said they were crazy. But at least it's mass hysteria, apparently.

I think what bothers me most about Sasuke's instant forgiveness is that it makes Eye of the Moon Plan look like the work of a drunken madman. Obito needs the power of all the tailed beasts, the Rinnegan, a zombie army, and Madara to take over the world. Meanwhile Sasuke apparently does the same purely with his emo powers alone. That's freaking insane. It implies, among other things, that Sasuke has Naruto-levels of plot alteration and people manipulation in his favor, despite his lack of a demon and a positive attitude.

Anyway, Sasuke now being considered a good guy has some huge plot holes until Kishimoto gets around to them.

1) Sasuke in no way had to suffer any real consequences for his crimes against Konoha. First, betraying the village, or even abandoning it without permission, is punishable by death. Mind you, I would not expect this to happen to Sasuke, since the rules never seem to apply to him. But his other crimes against Konoha are just as serious, and numerous: allying with enemy lands/organizations, attacking Konoha ninja, and killing a Hokage candidate (who was acting as Hokage at the time no matter how big a jerk he was, so I consider that less a candidate and more already on the job), and even announcing his intent to destroy Konoha. And yet with a serious face, he can say he plans to become Hokage? And if Konoha would rather have Sasuke who betrayed them, instead of Naruto who has always been loyal, I think I would have to stop reading. Practically the whole village taking a crap on the wishes of Naruto and his parents is one thing. But rewarding Sasuke's crimes by making him the village leader would have been like surrendering the hat to Orochimaru. And what was the point of fighting him if they were just going to turn around and let Sasuke be Hokage?

2) Sasuke forced Manda to become his meat shield, which was directly responsible for Manda's death, and he showed no remorse for it. I don't know how the snake hierchy works, but I highly doubt that if Naruto had used Gamabunta as a shield and gotten him killed, there would be even one toad willing to follow him. More than that, I would expect such a person to be removed from the summoning contract entirely. Instead, Sasuke has a snake even willing to refer to him as "-sama", and somehow I doubt Aoda is the only one.

3) If you needed any further proof of Sasuke's emo powers, the latest revelation concerning them should erase all doubt. Now Orochimaru's cursed seals are a combo of Senjutsu chakra and Jūgo's DNA. Which magically makes Sasuke capable of damaging Obito, the current Big Bad. Ignoring the fact that this is obviously a sad attempt to make Sasuke Naruto's equal... oh, wait. I _can't_ ignore it! And neither should you. Cursed seals have been pretty much the exact _opposite_ of senjutsu in every way since it was first introduced, and now they're exactly the same? So for those not keeping score, let's review. Sasuke is now carrying a remnant of his family (Itachi's eyes), a once supposedly evil but clearly substantial power either way (Orochimaru/Mangekyo), and is now effectively a sage despite no mention of him having trained as such. Meanwhile Naruto is sharing chakra with his dead dad, has tamed Kurama, and is a sage. It's like looking into a freaking funhouse mirror, only it's not even funny how obvious the setup is.

So I can only conclude one of the following things apply to Sasuke's current awesomeness:

A) Aoda is an outcast and has a contract with Sasuke separate from the official snake contract.

B) Manda's association with Orochimaru caused _every last snake_ to turn on him. Which begs the question of why he remained snake boss until his death. Possibly he was too powerful to effectively oppose. Not unlike Orochimaru himself.

C) The majority of the snakes did not approve of Orochimaru as a summoner, and Sasuke did something that caused them to forgive his role in Manda's death. Possibly returned the summon contract that had been in Orochimaru's possession. At least, that's the only thing I can think of. And even that doesn't seem to measure up to causing a boss's death.

D) Sasuke put Aoda under hypnosis, just as he did Manda. This makes an alarming amount of sense: Sasuke is very good at genjutsu. And now that the Rinnegan has been revealed to be an evolution of the Sharingan, it also explains why all of Pain's summons had the Rinnegan: people or animals controlled by the Sharingan sometimes appear to have it themselves, though it's just a sign or reflection of their being controlled. Though if Sasuke could hypnotize Manda, I would expect there to be precious few people he could not control in the same way. Which may be why everything is suddenly going his way. At least that's the only way I can explain it. Which is more than Kishimoto has presently done.

E) Snakes are largely evil or opportunistic by nature, have little or no loyalty to each other, and instead are more loyal to their summoners. And I'd bet the more evil the summoner, the happier and more evil the snakes he attracts. I'm more and more convinced this is the case, considering that both Kabuto and Sasuke are snake summoners at the same time (just as Orochimaru and Anko were), despite their drastically different goals, without any hint of this causing a conflict among their snakes. Which would mean that it wasn't that the snakes failed to avenge Manda, they just didn't care enough to, and likely blamed his death on his own weakness. No wonder they got along so well with Orochimaru.


End file.
